IS THIS SEAT TAKEN? 
                           or:
 "What's the funniest thing you've ever heard?"
    "A trained professional told me I was dying."
 "That is funny."
                __________________
 
 
 

You know why everybody hates lions? --
’Cause when they’re just laying out in the grass  --
--  doin’ nuthin’,
if you talk to them, and try to get them interested in going somewhere, or doing something you describe -- 
--  they’ll ignore you! 
They’ll look right past you like you don’t even exist. 
    Damn! that’s irritating!
 

You know why everyone loves folk music?
‘Cause it’s always songs about ramblin’;
‘bout goin’ somewhere…….and  doin’ sumthin’.
    Damn! that’s sweet!
 

Everyone is born on a space ship
whose flight seems beyond anyone’s control.
Most just sit back, and accept the trip as it unfolds.
Oh, they will complain, and criticize the amenities, 
but they are not stupid enough to attempt mutiny.
There are a tiny few on board however
who are born with a view of the situation that differs
substantially from the majority’s;
they are incapable of accepting the journey as
’twould seem everyone’s fate.
Oh, they obviously must accept the physical realities
of the captive voyage, 
(including man’s inherent bitching thereabout); 
where they differ is in their desire to 
comprehend the situation.
   Is this seat taken? 
 

Everyone loves the birds up in the sky -- 
--  ‘cause they love excitement!
They love to go new places, hear new songs --  plus,
birds can be hypnotized.
   Damn that’s weird!   Man! that’s sad!
 
 

If you are ever going to get-anywhere-in-life,
and amount-to-anything-among-your-peers,
you gotta be active! --  You gotta keep on the move!
   Sing them folk songs!    Chase those clouds!
 

Men have feet of lions, and heads of parrots,
and only men get-anywhere-in-life;
only humans ever amount-to-anything.
 

A few people are fascinated by the big cats,
‘cause when they’re just lying out there in the grass --
--  doin’ nuthin’ -- 
there’s nuthin’ else they WANNA be doin’!
It is impossible to get a lion worked up over an important upcoming election -- 
what’s wrong with them?
Are they unpatriotic?  Are they in a coma?
Don’t they have any awareness of 
the seriousness of the times?
A few humans are totally taken with the lion’s attitude;
he hunts when he’s hungry;
mates when he’s so moved,
the rest of the time  --  he just lays there.
What the hell kinda life is that?!
Who the hell does he think he is --  enlightened?! 
 
 
 

  Birds have a unique characteristic: they want to 
   stay as far away from themselves as possible.
 
 

The amenities aboard the space ship are being constantly upgraded by virtue of men singing folk songs
‘bout ramblin’, (that along with their whinin’).
What makes the forced flight to 
no-one-knows-where tolerable 
is staying in your seat, while continually 
criticizing everything possible about the trip,
and having bird dreams of other times and other places.
 

A small number of passengers cannot
get lions out of their minds.
They picture them just laying there  -- 
--  doin’ nuthin’ but lioning.
Them not imagining that they are birds;
not subject to being made to believe that they should be.
What kinda dumb animals are they anyway?!
How do they ever expect to get ahead with 
that kinda attitude?
 

It’s not just the passengers, 
birds too are quite taken with lions;
the birds are hip to what’s really-going-on,
but they don’t have any songs in their repertoire
to express the situation, (there are however,
a small number of birds on board the space ship
who secretly struggle with this condition).
 

 
           Animals who have a home --  stay home,
                      those who do not --  travel;
           they sing folk songs; they chase clouds; 
                  they invent printing, and prosper.
 
 

Birds know what they are doing,
but because of the unannounced 
comic book nature of the space flight,
they appear to most passengers  --  not to.
The few, 
(privately struggling in their seat  --  if they succeed),
come to finally see the situation for what it is.
   Lions gotta lay  --   birds gotta fly.
 
 

What's the difference between a lion, a dead man,
and an enlightened one?
Neither of ‘em flinch if you kick ‘em…….…mentally.
 
 

                                   Jhey
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

One day a passenger stood and said:
"The way I see it is that we have a choice:
either believe that we can change the direction of the ship to our liking,
or face the fact that we cannot, and stop worrying about it."


Those who catch-on to what's going-on exercise a third prerogative:
they neither believe that the direction can be affected,
nor do they  believe it cannot.

       A sentiment worthy of a lion...
                               
                    
                                         ...who finally coughed up a parrotball.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The cute thing about all teachings is that 
the teaching goes one way, and the ship another.